Genesis | |
Exodus | The plague of darkness was almost certainly a challenge against Ra, an Egyptian sun god. This would also have been a direct challenge to Pharaoh, since Egyptian kings were referred to as sons of Ra (10:21-23).
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Leviticus | Other ancient cultures viewed sacrifices as "food for the gods" (see Eze 16:20: cf. Ps 50:9-13), but Israel's offerings—though sometimes called "food" metaphorically (21:6,8,17,21; 22:25)—were viewed as gifts to God that he would receive with delight (3:11,16).
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Numbers | Trumpets—long, straight, slender metal tues, with flared ends—were blown for order and discipline (10:1-10).
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Deuteronomy | |
Joshua | In the ancient Near East a judicial verdict of the gods was commonly obtained by compelling an accused person to submit to a trial-by-water ordeal. Usually this involved casting the accused into a river. If the person drowned, the gods had found him or her guilty. Here the Israelites engaged in a different kind of trial-by-water ordeal (3:10-11).
When Israelite officers placed their feet on the necks of great and powerful kings they had subdued, they were recognizing them as frail human beings like everyone else. This practice, widespread in ancient times, is pictured in the artwork of Egypt and Assyria (10:24).
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Judges | |
Ruth | Taking off one's sandal and giving it to another was a public way of renouncing one's property rights and transferring them to another (4:7). The Nuzi documents (Akkadian, mid-second millennium B.c.) refer to a similar custom, which no longer applied during the time of Israel's judges.
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1 Samuel | The ancient Greeks, to whom the Philistines were apparently related, sometimes decided issues of war through chosen champions who met in combat between the armies. This "trial by battle ordeal" was based upon the belief that the gods of each army actual fought or decided the battle (17:4).
Using the normal conventions of Hebrew poetry—in which 10,000 was typically used as the parallel for 1,000—the phrase "Day' his tens of thousands" was the women's way of saying, "Saul and David have slain thousands" (18:7).
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2 Samuel | It was customary for new kings to assume the harem of their predecessors (3:7). Ancient cultures viewed disability as a sign of sin or of God's disfavor (4:4). Royal women played a significant political role in ancient societies (16:21-22). Threshing floors, normally on hills, were traditional sites for receiving divine messages (24:18-25).
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1 Kings | Since Solomon had 1,400 chariots (10:26; 2Ch 1:14), his stables included stalls for 2.800 chariot horses (two for each chariot), with additional stalls for 1,200 horses (1 Ki 4:26).
The -Sea of cast metal" was an enormous reservoir of water, holding about 11,500 gallons-43,527 liters—and used by the priests for ritual cleansing (7:23).
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2 Kings | Ancient pagans thought that the magical power of curses could be nullified either by forcing the pronouncer of a curse to retract the statement or by killing him or her so that the curse would accompany that individual to the netherworld (1:6-15). Baldness, uncommon among the ancient Jews, was considered an object for mockery, while luxuriant hair seems to have been viewed as a sign of strength and vigor (2:23). It is still common for wadis (dry river beds) in the Arabah to become streams after a cloudburst, leaving behind pools of water. The storm may occur far enough away that no sound of wind or rain can be heard, but the water gathers and rushes down the valleys, often taking travelers by surprise (3:20). It was commonly assumed throughout the ancient Near East that a deity could be worshiped only on the soil of the nation to which he or she was bound (5:17). Women's makeup was sophisticated: black kohl to outline the eyes, blue eye shadow from lapis lazuli, crushed cochineal to serve as lipstick and scarlet henna to paint fingernails and toenails. There were also powders and an array of perfumes and ointments (9:30). It was common in the ancient Near East to seek omens by examining the entrails of sacrificed animals (16:15).
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1 Chronicles | There is no evidence of direct taxation during the reign of David; his court appears to have been financed by extensive landholdings, commerce, plunder from his many wars and tribute from subjugated kingdoms (27:25-31).
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2 Chronicles | |
Ezra | A shekel (about .4 oz-11.34 g—of silver) was the average wage for a month's work. Thus a mina would have been the equivalent of five years' wages and a talent of 300 years' wages (2:69)! Tattenai and his associates were part of the elaborate system of informers and spies used by Near Eastern kings. Two officials who reported to the Persian monarch were known as the king's eye" and "the king's ear." (5:3-5). Persian kings consistently helped to restore sanctuaries in their empire (6:3-5). The returning exiles were not uncompromising separatists but were willing to accept any who would disconnect themselves from the paganism of the foreigners introduced into the area by the Assyrians (6:19-21). The story of Esther. the queen who saved the Jewish people from massacre, fits into the interval of nearly 60 years that separates Ezra 7:1 from 6:22. In ancient societies mothers were given custody of their children when marriages were dissolved. In Babylon divorced women were granted their children and had to wait for them to grow up before remarrying (10:3).
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Nehemiah | One of the cupbearer's duties was to choose and taste the king's wine to make certain it was not poisoned. The need for trustworthy court attendants is underscored by the intrigues that characterized the Persian court. Xerxes, the father of Artaxerxes I, was killed in his own bedchamber by a courtier (1:11).
Women did not participate in ordinary meetings but were included, together with children, on sacred occasions. In one memorable instance the people stood for five or six hours, attentively listening to the reading and explanation of the Scriptures (8:2-3).
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Esther | |
Job | Job, like the patriarchs Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, functioned as a priest for his family. He took his sacrificial obligation seriously, making atonement even for sins of the heart (1:5).
Job's friends adopted a drastic form of mourning, usually reserved for death or total disaster. They tore their robes of nobility, wailed and threw dust into the air—then sat in silence before Job for seven days and nights. To speak before the individual in mourning did so was considered bad taste (2:12-13).
Most people of the ancient Near East believed that at death everyone went down to the netherworld, a dark, dreary place under the earth, ruled by various gods. People there were thought to endure a shadowy, sleepy existence from which there was no escape (10:21)
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Psalm | Though there is evidence that ancient Israel was far more forested than it is today, the presence of flourishing trees was still a sign of divine blessing for former nomads living on the fringes of a settled, agricultural society (52:8).
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Proverbs | |
Ecclesiastes | |
Song of Solomon | |
Isaiah | |
Jeremiah | The Recabites were related to Moses' father-in-law, Jethro the Kenite. Though not ethnic Jews, this nomadic tribe lived among or near the Israelites and zealously attempted to be faithful to the Lord (35:2).
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Lamentation | |
Ezekiel | |
Daniel | |
Hosea | Clay tablets from Ugarit tell of fertility rites carried out by the Canaanites at the high places, and pagan rituals involving sexual immorality were often conducted under oak trees, which were considered sacred (4:13).
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Joel | |
Amos | |
Obadiah | Edom's arrogance was grounded in its virtually impregnable mountain strongholds (v. 3). The Edomites safeguarded their wealth—accumulated from trade—in vaults in the rocks (v. 6). Edom, particularly Teman, was known for its wise men. Eliphaz, one of Job's three friends, was a Temanite (v. 8).
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Jonah | |
Micah | |
Nahum | Nineveh's wall, which was almost 8 miles (13 km) long with 15 gates, was surrounded by a moat 150 feet (nearly 46 m) wide. The moat had to be filled in before attackers could reach the city wall. The "protective shield" refers to a large defensive shelter covered with hides to deflect stones and arrows (2:5).
Nineveh's destruction was so complete that the decimated city was never rebuilt. Within a few centuries it was covered with wind-blown sand, leaving no trace except a mound that is known today as Tell Kuyunjik, "the mound of many sheep" (3:19).
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Habakkuk | The timbers of the highly prized cedars of Lebanon had been ravaged for centuries by the kings of Assyria and Babylon to adorn their temples and palaces. Assyrian inscriptions record hunting expeditions in the Lebanon range, and the invading Babylonians may have engaged in such sport as well (2:17).
Old Testament writers frequently combined recollections of the mighty acts of God with conventional images of a fearsome manifestation of his power: He is depicted as riding on the mighty thunderstorm as his chariot, his arrows flying in all directions, a cloudburst of rain descending upon the earth and the mountains quaking before him (3:3).
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Zephaniah | |
Haggai | A garment coming into contact with "consecrated meat" (meat from an animal set apart for a sacrifice) became "holy" (see Lev 6:27 but could not pass on that holiness to a third object. Ceremonial uncleanness was transmitted much more easily than holiness, since anything touched by an unclean person became unclean (Hag 2:12-13).
A signet was a kind of seal, the impression of which in clay or wax functioned as a signature. A signet, worn on one's finger or on a cord around one's neck, could be used as a pledge or guarantee of full payment of a debt (2:23).
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Zechariah | |
Malachi | "Launderer's soap," called "fuller's soap" in some versions, was an alkali prepared from the ashes of certain plants and used for cleansing and "fulling" (shrinking or thickening) new woolen cloth (3:2).
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